


Bitter Revelations

by phantom_of_the_keurig



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: Rebels, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, CC-2224 | Cody Needs a Hug, Cody still has his chip, Post Order 66, Prompt Fill, and it's making him a bit crazy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-11
Updated: 2020-09-19
Packaged: 2021-03-04 02:35:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,394
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24656212
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phantom_of_the_keurig/pseuds/phantom_of_the_keurig
Summary: Tasked by Grand Admiral Thrawn himself, Commander Cody is sent to the desert world of Seelos to track down the identity of a potential rogue clone within the Rebellion.
Relationships: CC-2224 | Cody & CC-3636 | Wolffe, CC-2224 | Cody & CT-7567 | Rex
Comments: 73
Kudos: 161





	1. Seelos

**Author's Note:**

> i-got-no-bones on Tumblr sent a prompt request for "Cody finds out Rex has joined the Rebellion". I really love this idea, especially because the Rebels team actually considered having Thrawn bring Cody in to help counter Rex. I am still so salty that they ended up not going forward with the concept. So to make myself feel better, here's my take on Thrawn recruiting Cody in order to fight against Rex. Keep in mind I have only watched maybe 60% of Rebels, and of that I skipped around like crazy so uhhhh, any inconsistencies are totally my bad. Special thanks to my dear friend epsiloneridani for all her help and encouragement~! Please enjoy :)

* * *

Seelos. It was just as barren and dusty as the intel had described. Not to mention, atrociously hot. Cody grimaced. He hated desert planets. Maybe it was a result of his upbringing, having spent the first ten years of his life on an entirely aquatic planet. He wasn’t exactly  _ fond _ of Kamino’s volatile surface, not after having one too many trainers threaten to throw him over the ledge and let the ocean swallow him. And yet, he’d rather be surrounded by dark, unruly waves than pale, dreary salt dunes.

A dry gust of wind sent tiny sprinkles of sand across his visor. He huffed, drumming his fingers impatiently against the durasteel paneling of his speederbike. His modified seeker droid, EV-3, should have been back by now. His restlessness would have gone completely unnoticed to the average stormtrooper. Unfortunately for Cody, his companion on the speederbike beside him was no ordinary stormtrooper.

"Will you relax?” said the trooper. He reached up and pulled his plastoid helmet off, revealing a face nearly identical to Cody’s. “The droid is fine.”

“Her name is Eve,” Cody snapped. The heat was getting to him, but his fellow clone took no offense. They had known each other for far too long to let something as trivial as Cody’s attitude, which had grown progressively more sour over the years, to cause a rift.

Threepwood scoffed, running a hand through his closely-cropped, grey hair. “Eve, right.” They fell back into a lull, retreating within their own thoughts. Cody was fine with the silence, but Threep was never one to stay quiet for too long. “Do you really think they’re clones?”

Cody shrugged. “I don’t know, it’s possible I suppose.” He absently picked at some of the chipped paint that stretched along the front of the speederbike. “The Grand Admiral seems to think so.”

“Do you think it’s someone we know?”

He paused. Threepwood had a knack for saying the things that Cody would rather not think about. The sort of thoughts he preferred to tuck away into some desolate corner of his mind, where it would remain until he forgot all about it. That’s what a good soldier, a  _ loyal _ soldier, did.

“I doubt it,” Cody said glumly. “How many of us were there? Over a million?” He crossed his arms, and leaned further back into his seat. “The likelihood of it being someone we know is low. Too low to even worry about.” He gave Threep a pointed look. One that only a clone, one who had spent years distinguishing between brothers using only the most subtle of details, would understand. It was a look that clearly stated the conversation was over.

The far-right corner of his HUD flashed red. It was a proximity alert, and he turned his head to the source. In the far distance, where the painfully bright sky met the dull salt of the ground, was a small, dark blur. Cody reached into the bike’s saddlebag and retrieved his electrobinoculars, immediately bringing the battered device to his visor.

Standard Imperial issued equipment was, more often than not, junk. He’d never say so aloud, it wouldn’t be becoming of a Commander to do so, but he sure as hell cursed the subpar equipment the Empire saw fit to give them as he tried in vain to focus the binocs.

“Hey,” Threepwood piped up from behind him, apparently having had more luck with his scopes. “I think that’s your droid.”

After another moment, Cody was finally able to bring the device into focus. “You’re right,” he said. He followed the little red and grey droid as it hovered across the desert, kicking up sand and salt as it went. As he waited for Eve to reach them, he made a mental note to switch his busted electrobinoculars out for Threep’s the next chance he got. He’d have to wait until the trooper wasn’t paying attention, which wouldn’t take long. Threepwood wasn’t known for his attention span.

The tiny seeker droid let out a happy trill when it reached them. The white rim within its single red eye widened and then constricted, a quirk Cody had come to learn meant the droid was pleased about something. He wouldn’t admit it to anyone, he had a reputation as a grumpy, old clone to maintain, but Cody was rather attached to his little droid companion. She was one of a kind in his mind; he had pieced her together from the scrapped remains of a ID9 parrot droid and a long forgotten BD unit. 

“Hello, Eve,” Cody greeted as Eve bound forward over the front of his speederbike. He held out his hands, pressing the side of his palms together to create a small platform for the droid to settle on. Eve did so immediately, and then proceeded to scamper up his arm and to his shoulder. “Did you find anything?”

Eve let out a series of chirps and whistles.  _ Yes, of course I found something. I am the very best. _

Cody snorted. Eve had inherited the cheerful, eager personality that was standard in all BD units. It was an unintentional side-effect of her modifications on Cody’s part, but one he didn’t mind all that much. Threepwood, who had never bothered to learn binary, looked to him to translate.

“She said she found something,” Cody explained. Eve bounced on his shoulder, much like an over excited tooka kitten, as she transmitted the intel to his datapad. He watched the progress bar as the data loaded onto the screen, patting the top of Eve’s head as he did so. When it finished, Eve spun her lower half, which consisted of her five tentacle-like legs, around in a triumphant gesture.

“Good job, Eve,” Cody said as he looked over the course she had plotted. It was eight klicks to the west and would take them through the heart of the arid planet. He tossed the pad to Threep. “Looks like we got a bit of a ride ahead of us.”

“Hmmm,” Threepwood mused. He flicked his finger across the screen, pulling up one of the surveillance videos Eve had captured. “They’re clones, alright. Should we let the Grand Admiral know?”

Cody shook his head. “No, let’s check it out first. See how that goes. I don’t want to bother Thrawn unless we have something substantial.”

“Roger that.”

They kicked their bikes to life. Cody revved the accelerator a few times for good measure and then turned to the petite droid perched on his shoulder.

“Ready?”

Eve chirped affectionately, the pincers of her front most legs latching onto his pauldron. With a final nod to Threepwood, Cody sped off into the barren wasteland. 

* * *

“How do you wanna do this, boss?” 

Cody frowned. It had been years since he had seen another clone other than Threepwood. The Emperor had shut down the cloning facilities on Kamino only a few months into his reign. Natural born recruits had soon flooded the ranks, and before he knew it, Cody went from seeing his face everywhere to only seeing it when he happened to glance in the mirror. It didn’t help that regulations mandated they keep their helmets on at all times while on duty. 

Still, he knew his brothers were all but gone from the Imperial Army. He didn’t need to see the faces beneath the stormtrooper armor to know that. As a clone, he could recognize one of his brother’s voices in an instant. He never heard them within the Imperial garrison he was stationed in, not even in passing. And now, hearing the bitterly familiar sound of his brothers laughing as it echoed up from the valley below twisted his heart in a way he was entirely unprepared for. 

There were two of them, dwarfed by the corpse of a giant, worm-like creature their intel had called a  _ joopa _ . They were perhaps the plumpest, most well-fed clones he had ever seen, but as they worked together to rig a series of cords around the beast, Cody knew there was still a lingering, powerful strength beneath their soft exterior. 

_ Traitors _ , his conscious murmured. 

But, they didn’t seem like traitors to Cody. The Empire had retired most clones after a few years, save for a select few like him and Threepwood. Perhaps the clones below were no longer in service, having already done their duty to the Empire, and were simply enjoying their retirement. A desolate, unbearably hot hell-hole of a planet didn’t seem like much of a paradise to him, but who was he to judge. 

_ Rebel scum _ , the voice within his mind whispered. 

What purpose would the Rebellion have in harvesting joopa meat? Surely there were better sources of food, the rebels couldn’t be that dim-witted. If the two clones below really were part of the Rebellion, why did the AT-AT behind them have decorations adorning it, as if it were a home? Why did they seem so at ease, as if they didn’t have a care in the world? And why were there only two of them? Where were the other rebels? 

Threepwood inched closer to the edge of the ridge and leveled his rifle. Cody’s heart sped up.  _ Wrong _ , another part of mind said,  _ wrong wrong wrong- don’t do this. _ It was like being on the receiving end of two different conversations, each fighting to be heard over the other. Threep reached out to adjust one of the dials on his scope.

“I’ve got a shot on the bald one.”

Cody threw out his hand and tugged the barrel of the rifle down. “Don’t,” he hissed. “They’re no rebels. At least, these two aren’t.”

“What do you mean?”

“Commander Kallus' report said there were three clones, not two.” If they were in a holofilm, Cody imagined a light-bulb would be going off above Threepwood’s head right about now. 

“So where’s the third?” Threepwood asked quietly. 

“Exactly.” He turned to look at his shoulder, holding up his hand as he did so. “Eve, can you get me audio of what’s going on down there?”

Eve hopped into his open palm and beeped softly. Cody gently lowered his hand closer to the edge, giving the droid a better view from their cover.The small white dot in the very center of her eye expanded as she honed in on the figures below. Static hissed through his helmet as Eve connected with the built in comlink.

_ “No, no- I’m telling you, there’s no such thing as flying gundarks.” _

_ “Yes there is Wolffe, I’ve seen them!”  _

Cody visibly flinched.  _ Wolffe _ . His old batchmate was alive. It seemed impossible, but he recognized the gruff tone, the permanent exasperation that had always lingered in Wolffe’s voice. 

_ “Seen them where, exactly?” _

_ “Well,”  _ the other clone said shyly. His voice was lighter, more dopey than any clone Cody had come across before. _ “In my dreams!”  _

Wolffe sighed. Cody could picture the eye-roll that accompanied it. 

_ “If Rex were here-” _

_ “Rex isn’t here, Gregor,”  _ Wolffe snapped. There was a pause, and then Wolffe took on a gentle tone that was kinder than Cody had ever heard him use before.  _ “Why don’t you go and comm him? I’m sure he’d love to hear from you. He’s probably tired of those rebels by now, yeah? ” _

Threepwood sucked in a sharp breath. They both froze, neither of them really paying any attention to the conversation broadcasting within their helmets. Slowly, Cody turned to Threep.

“Rex,” Cody growled. He eased back from the edge of the ridge, clutching Eve close to his chest so she wouldn’t lose balance. Threepwood slid down beside him. There was a storm brewing inside Cody’s head. A dark, terrible storm that pounded through his temples with each pump of his heart. 

_ Rex was alive. _

“Commander?” Threepwood said distantly, somewhere far off and away from Cody’s awareness. 

_ Rex was alive. Rex was working for the Rebellion. _

“Commander,” Threepwood tried again, gripping his elbow to stop him. 

_ Rex was alive. Rex was working for the Rebellion. Rex was a traitor.  _

Cody ripped his arm out of Threepwood’s grip with a snarl. “Let’s go.” He ignored the troopers protests and continued marching to the small alcove where they had stashed their speederbikes. It wasn’t until they had both mounted up that he spoke again. “Contact the Grand Admiral. Tell him we found the identity of the traitor.”

“But, what about the other two?”

“They don’t matter,” Cody barked. “They’re just a pair of sorry, washed-up clones.” Venom laced his every word. He hadn’t felt this enraged in years. Not since the Jedi had betrayed them. The very thought made his blood boil. 

Threepwood sent a brief transmission to the Grand Admiral, and then they were off, speeding across the desert and back to their ship. Eve squirmed on Cody’s shoulder as they rode, emitting a series of worried beeps and chirps.

_ Cody okay _ , she inquired.  _ Angry? Cody is angry?  _

“I’m fine, Eve,” he said through his teeth. His head was killing him. He wanted to blame the heat in his veins on the sun, but he knew deep down that the rage that coursed through him wasn’t quite right. It was too potent, almost artificial. As if someone had somehow dropped into his brain and tugged on just the right strings, the ones that controlled his anger, his fear. It felt as if he wasn’t quite in control of himself. 

Only once in his life had he felt like this. Utapau. He could still see it, the exact moment when Order 66 had gone out, the moment everything he thought he knew came crashing down around him. The betrayal of the Jedi had nearly shattered him. He had fought by their side for years, and would have laid down his life for them. He had lost countless brothers fighting for the Jedi, had sent so many men to their death all in the name of peace. 

To learn that the Jedi Order had deceived them all, had tried to seize the Galaxy for themselves- it was a wound that was still raw, as fresh and painful as the day it had been inflicted. It wasn’t a memory he often dwelt on, as it always left him with an eye-splitting headache. Much like now. 

By the time they arrived back at their small Lambda-class shuttle, the sun had started to set. Eve fluttered from his shoulder and whizzed into the ship to start the preflight checks. Cody pulled his helmet off and sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. He could feel Threepwood watching him, waiting for him to speak first. When he said nothing, as he really didn’t feel like talking at that moment, Threepwood shook his head and began to ease his bike into the cargo hold. Cody slammed his helmet back on and followed suit. 

“Did you know?” Threepwood asked, securing the tie down straps to his bike. 

“Know what?” Cody grumbled back.

“That Rex was alive.” 

He didn’t answer. Instead, he finished anchoring his bike in place and stalked away to join Eve in the cockpit. She trilled at him in greeting as he collapsed in the pilot’s seat.

_ Ready! Ready to fly! Let’s go! _

“Thanks, Eve.” Cody patted her head and then held out his palm. She hopped on, and then quickly took her normal place at his shoulder. Sometimes he felt more like a glorified droid perch than a soldier, but it didn’t bother him. He often found it comforting to have Eve by his side, or balanced on his shoulder like a kowakian monkey-lizard. 

Cody set a course for Lothal, where Grand Admiral Thrawn had recently set up a command center within one of the Imperial factories. It would be his first time meeting with the man face to face. His only other experience with the Chiss had been a brief conversation through hologram. Thrawn had explained his suspicion that a clone had joined up with the Rebellion, before appointing Cody to investigate the validity of such rumors. The Grand Admiral hadn’t given him much to go on, or to work with. Just a transfer to his personal guard and access to Commander Kallus’ report on the Seelos debacle. 

And Threepwood, of course. Threepwood was allowed to accompany him. 

His companion had yet to join him in the cockpit. Cody frowned. He made the jump to hyperspace in silence. He wanted to go and find his brother, to make amends for his nasty attitude, but he was too distracted by his impending audience with Thrawn to do much else other than sit and stew in his own anxiety. Now that his thoughts had cooled off, and he didn’t feel like running his fist through the nearest wall, he tried to make sense of the conflicting, warring factions within his head. 

Part of him demanded that Rex be brought to justice, to fight to his very last breath to ensure his treacherous brother paid for his crimes against the Empire. Cody was a good soldier, and good soldiers followed orders. But another part of him, one that emerged from deep within his subconscious and begged to be heard, said that he could still be a good soldier without killing Rex. 

Cody turned his attention to the quieter, less bloodthirsty voice within him. It said that if Rex could be turned, if he could be convinced to abandon the rebels and swear loyalty to the Empire, he didn’t have to die. Rex was a smart man. If Cody could confront him, he was sure Rex would come around. They hadn’t seen each other in over a decade, but Rex had once been his closest friend. 

He felt more at ease, invigorated by a new sense of determination, but was startled as the ship dropped from hyperspace. He hadn’t realized how lost in his thoughts he had become. An imperial blockade awaited them. Cody transferred his clearance code and waited for a reply. 

“CC-2224,” said the officer on the other side of the comm. “The Grand Admiral is expecting you. You’ve been cleared to land. Head to sector five dash alpha eleven.”

“Yes, sir,” Cody answered plainly. The use of his birth number always bothered him, but he couldn't let himself show it. Anytime the natural born officers picked up on his discomfort, they would become more inclined to refer to him by number. 

Cody eased the ship into atmo and followed the waypoint on the navicomputer. Eve whistled as Threepwood entered the cockpit and stood behind him. Neither of them said anything. They were both too stubborn to be the first. Cody clenched his jaw. That was fine with him, he’d rather focus on the information he was to present to Thrawn anyway. 

He eased the shuttle into a smooth landing within the hangar bay of the massive Imperial Complex. He paused, his hands still gripping the flight controls. Threepwood placed a hand on his shoulder and squeezed. It was a familiar gesture, one that said what neither of them wanted to. It was an apology, an extension of comfort. 

“Ready, sir?”

Cody nodded, letting his hands drop to his lap. Eve shuffled from side to side on his shoulder. “Ready.” 

* * *


	2. A Way Out

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uh, hi. I have been working on this chapter for quite a while, and I mean like, a lonnnng time. I was never quite happy with it, and still really am not, but I was tired of agonizing over it and wanted to just throw it out there. The good news is I have basically already written chapter 3, and I'm much more happier with it. Anyway,let me know what you think! And thank you to my dear friend epsiloneridani, who is the reason this chapter ever made it to the light of day!

* * *

_Of all the places he had thought to find his brother, reading atop a pile of crates in a tucked away corner in the middle of an active docking bay hadn’t originally crossed his mind._

_“Strange place to spend your last night of shore leave, if you ask me,” Cody remarked._

_Gree huffed, throwing a rude gesture over his shoulder without looking up from his datapad. “It’s a good thing I didn’t ask you, then.”_

_There was an edge to Gree’s voice, one that would have sent any baby-faced clone fresh off Kamino running in the other direction without so much as a parting salute. But Cody was no shiny, and Gree was no ordinary Commander._

_They were batchmates._

_Colt had been decanted first, something he had affectionately held over the rest of their heads up until a Separatist droid put a blaster bolt between his eyes. Gree had been next, and as the second oldest of their batch, he had already been bundled up and tucked away in an incubator by the time Cody, the youngest of them, had been plucked from his growth jar. It didn’t matter that Cody couldn’t recall their first few years together, that his memories didn’t truly start until they were three-standard years old and big enough to hold their first blaster. A part of him inherently knew that Gree, like the rest of their batch, had quite literally been in his life from his very first breath of sterile Kaminoan air._

_Gree had always been the most reserved of their group, the complete and total opposite of Wolffe, but not quite as standoffish as Fox. And while Cody had been closer to Bly growing up, Gree had been the brother Cody went to after an extended stay in one of the Kaminoan’s beloved restraint pods. During those darker days as a cadet, the ones that still made the occasional appearance in his dreams, Gree’s calm disposition and gentle voice had been a refuge for him._

_The start of the war saw their batch ripped apart as they were each sent to separate corners of the Galaxy. But Cody’s reliance on Gree hadn’t ended once they left Kamino. Even now, when the weight of the war grew too heavy on his shoulders, Cody would seek his batcher out. It wasn’t that Gree was a particular source of wisdom or comfort; instead, Gree provided something Cody found himself in need of more and more as the war kept on._

_A distraction._

_Gree didn’t talk about the war. He didn’t talk about the brothers he had lost, the destruction he had witnessed or been accomplice to; Gree told stories. He filled Cody’s head with tales of the most obscure, long-forgotten cultures, of societies that had collapsed and faded, until their only existence in the Galaxy was marked between the pages of a flimsi-bound book._

_It was true that Gree preferred the company of his holobooks and the solitude of his research to that of other people. But Cody was his batcher, and the bond between batchmates was something not even the war could break._

_Gree sighed, sat his datapad down, and patted the crate beside him. Cody sat, placing his bucket down in the space between them. Together, they watched as various battalions came and went, loading and unloading from battered gunships all while the distant sun, Coruscant Prime, began to set. It bathed the bay in a gentle, warm glow, reminding Cody of the orange paint that decorated his armor. His hands, never content without something to do, idly drummed against the plastoid plating of his thigh._

_“We leave for Kashyyyk in the morning,” Gree said abruptly._

_“I know,” Cody replied. “That’s why I came to find you.”_

_Gree hummed, but said nothing. Cody’s fingers resumed their strumming, this time against the dull material of the crate_

_“You must be excited, right? Maybe you’ll get to see that uh, tree you’re always going on about.”_

_Gree huffed, but with none of the harshness of before. “You mean the Origin Tree?”_

_“That’s the one,” Cody smirked, bumping his shoulder into Gree’s. His fellow Commander responded with a firm shoulder check of his own. By their feet, illuminated by the fading light of Coruscant Prime, the green visor of Gree’s helmet seemed to glow._

_“Hey,” Cody said, nudging at the helmet with his foot, “At least your bucket will blend in.”_

_“Shut up.”_

_Another playful shove from his brother, and Cody laughed. He thought Gree may have even smiled, a sight even rarer than General Kenobi going an entire campaign without losing his lightsaber._

_Cody sighed. He wished Gree’s smile and Kenobi’s hold on his saber weren’t such rare occurrences. The unfairness of it all made his shoulders slump._

_“It’s a rite of passage for the Wookies to climb the Origin Tree.”_

_Gree’s voice snapped him out of his less than pleasant musings. Cody looked up, the eyebrow nearest to his scar raised in curiosity as he waited for his brother to go on._

_“And there’s this creature, a Shyyyo bird - no one knows if it's even real, of course. But this massive, legendary bird is supposed to live within the Origin Tree.”_

_“Is that so?” Cody hummed, and then bit his tongue in thought. “Must be a really big tree.”_

_“It’s not just some big tree, smartass,” Gree rolled his eyes. He reached for his datapad, typing in something faster than Cody could keep up with. “It’s the biggest tree on all of Kashyyyk.”_

_Gree offered the ‘pad out and began to guide Cody through a collection of satellite images he had pulled from the GAR Databank. Sometimes he would reach over to point out a particular flora, or pause Cody’s scrolling altogether to explain various aspects of Wookie culture. Cody dutifully nodded along with each story Gree shared. Kashyyyk was quite beautiful, but he didn’t quite understand Gree’s intense fascination for it._

_Not that it really mattered. Cody was more than happy to sit and listen to his batcher talk about something he was so passionate about._

_When they finally came to the Origin Tree, Gree was all but vibrating with excitement._

_“Well I’ll be damned,” Cody mumbled, bringing the datapad closer to his face. It was clear that no photo could do the Origin Tree justice, as it was simply too large to fit into any one frame. It seemed the original holocamera operator had given up trying to capture the scale of the thing, and simply settled for a series of aerial shots showing the peak of the tree jutting out from beneath a blanket of thick clouds. It reminded Cody of a green, leafy mountain. “That is a pretty big tree.”_

_“Yeah,” Gree said thoughtfully, gazing at the photo with such a profound sense of longing that Cody had to look away. Suddenly feeling uncomfortable, something that had never happened in his brother’s presence before, he scrambled for something else to talk about._

_“We’ll get drinks after,” Cody blurted._

_Gree blinked, and leaned back. He looked utterly bewildered by Cody’s sudden outburst._

_“When you get back from Kashyyyk,” Cody clarified. “Maybe we can even get Fox and Wolffe to come with us.”_

_Gree thought it over for a moment, then nodded. “What about Bly?”_

_Cody scoffed. “As if Bly would leave General Secura’s side.”_

_“Not even for drinks?” Gree teased._

_“Not even for drinks.”_

_They fell into a fit of laughter at their poor love sick batcher’s misfortune. A pair of Coruscant Guard shock troopers passing by shared an uneasy turn of their heads before picking up the pace, which only sent Cody and Gree into further hysterics._

_The final sliver of Coruscant Prime had dipped below the horizon by the time they regained their composure. Gree sighed. He reached down for his helmet and brought it to his lap._

_“I should go,” Gree said softly. One side of his mouth quirked up, but it was too sad to really be called a smile._

_Cody nodded, worrying at the inside of his cheek. Something felt wrong, but he couldn’t pinpoint what. There was a tremendous urge inside him to grab Gree and beg him not to go, to plead with his brother to fake an injury or do something, anything but go to Kashyyyk._

_It felt like they were saying goodbye._

_“I’ll see you later, Cody,” Gree said, and held out his hand._

_Cody disregarded his outstretched hand and stood to pull his brother into a hug. Gree locked up. His helmet clattered against the floor. Cody wasn’t sure if he had ever hugged his brother before._

_“Be careful,” Cody said into his shoulder. “Come back safe, Gree.”_

_Gree relaxed and patted his shoulder. “Yeah, of course.” They pulled apart, but Gree kept his hand on Cody’s shoulder. He squeezed it and said, “I’ll be back soon, and we’ll go get those drinks, yeah?”_

_“Yeah,” Cody said. He bent to grab Gree’s helmet from where it had hit the floor. He saw his own pitiful reflection looking back at him from the dark green visor as he handed it back to his brother. “I’ll see you soon, brother.”_

* * *

As the memory of that night on Coruscant faded away, leaving Cody back in the bitter present, he found himself faced once again with a familiar helmet. 

Gree’s helmet. 

Cody had recognized the distinctive dark green of Gree’s faceplate the moment he had stepped foot into Grand Admiral Thrawn’s office. How he had managed to give his report without blatantly staring at his brother’s helmet was beyond him.

From her place on his shoulder, Eve whimpered, low enough for only him to hear. Cody tore his eyes away from where Gree’s helmet was mounted on the wall and returned them to where the Grand Admiral sat. Thrawn was still deep in thought, his fingers clutched beneath his chin and his eyes closed.

Cody was glad for it. Thrawn’s red eyes reminded him too much of Ventress’ twin lightsabers. He shivered, and the faded twist of scar tissue on his shoulder throbbed. He could still remember how it had felt when she had run one of her ‘sabers through him as if it were yesterday.

He could still remember the barely contained excitement in Gree’s voice as he talked about Kashyyyk as if it were yesterday too. Cody’s eyes reluctantly flicked back to where Gree’s bucket rested on Thrawn’s wall. 

They never did get those drinks. Gree had died on Kashyyyk only a few moments after Order 66 had gone out. One swipe of General Yoda’s lightsaber had separated his batchmate’s head from his body. Distantly, Cody wondered if the helmet on the Grand Admiral’s wall was scorched. If perhaps the rim had been seared when the General had run his ‘saber between it and Gree’s neck.

It felt like Gree’s faceplate was staring into his very soul. As if his brother’s head was still trapped inside after all these years. Cody couldn’t look away.

“It’s a beautiful design, isn’t it?” Thrawn’s voice made Cody flinch, and Threepwood all but jumped out of his armor. The two clones exchanged a look, one that asked if the other had been paying enough attention to Thrawn to know if he had tried to get their attention before. The dumbstruck, terrified look on Threep’s face told Cody he had been as captivated with Gree’s helmet as Cody had been. 

Ready for a severe dressing down, or perhaps for the Grand Admiral to just pull a blaster and end them both then and there, Cody was surprised when the Chiss stood from his place behind the desk and crossed the room to unhook the helmet from its stand.

Cody’s stomach dropped, as he half expected Gree’s head to come rolling out. When no such head appeared, he let out a breath. 

“A pity, that such artistry can no longer be found adorning our troops,” Thrawn mused. His voice was delicate, yet icy. Smooth, but utterly authoritative. When Thrawn spoke, those around him had little choice but to listen. “A necessary sacrifice of course, as I’m sure you know. Strength in uniformity and all that.” Thrawn paused, and smiled, as if he were sharing an inside joke with himself. “Do you know what became of your old armor, Commander?” 

The Grand Admiral held out Gree’s helmet, and while Cody wanted nothing more than to _not_ touch his dead brother’s helmet, he took it without question. Cody made it a habit to avoid looking at his reflection whenever he could, but Gree’s faceplate had been shined so vigorously it could probably blind someone in the right light. His worn, tired face looked back at him, more somber than it had been that night on Coruscant. He had to beat down the urge to fling the helmet as far away from him as he could. 

Beside him, Threepwood cleared his throat, and Cody remembered the Grand Admiral had asked him a question.

“ _Ah_ \- no, sir. I’m not sure what happened to it.” He tore his gaze away from his reflection but clutched the helmet closer to him. “I never thought to ask.” 

“Of course,” Thrawn said. “Good soldiers follow orders, do they not?”

Cody’s ears began to ring. His blood ran cold, as if Thrawn’s icy voice had somehow made its way into his veins. He heard Threepwood gasp, and Cody turned his chin to look at the trooper. It occurred to him then that maybe Threepwood had heard the voice too. That maybe Cody wasn’t the only one that lived with a mantra of G _ood Soldiers Follow Orders_ inside his head. 

If the Grand Admiral noticed their distress, he didn’t seem to care. In fact, he seemed to relish in it. 

“Do you know why I requested you, specifically, Commander?” 

Cody shook his head. “No sir, I do not.” Even to his own ears, Cody thought he sounded small. 

“Because I suspected, from the very beginning, that this rogue clone was either you or CT-7567.” Thrawn hummed, crossing back to his desk to flip on a small holoprojector. The lights of the office dimmed, and the room became illuminated by the projection of two Kaminoan-issued identification codes. 

Cody knew the projected file on the right, and what was written on it, like he knew the inner workings of a DC-15A blaster rifle. It was _his_. Every clone had an identification code inserted into their left wrist that, with a simple scan, could be used to bring up every military, medical, or disciplinary record that pertained to that clone. Such a manner of identification and record keeping was phased out once the Republic transitioned into the Empire. But the old records were still there, safe beneath the skin of any clone who happened to still be alive. 

The file on the left, however, was perhaps even more familiar to Cody. He had written most of the commendations within it himself. 

_Rex_. His jaw tightened as he took in the identification photo at the top of the file. He hadn’t seen Rex in so long, Cody had forgotten about the slight scar on his chin. 

“I knew it couldn’t be CC-1004, not when I had his helmet in my collection,” Thrawn said evenly, nodding to the bucket in Cody’s hand. “For a moment, I thought it perhaps the work of CC-5052, but to my immense disappointment, it seems he put a blaster to his head right after his return from Felucia.” 

Cody sucked in a sharp breath. _Bly_. He hadn’t know Bly was dead, no one had told him Bly had - 

“A shame,” Thrawn shook his head and sighed, as if he truly felt the immense grief that was consuming Cody. “Well, from there I was left with only a few options. This clone was brilliant, his strategy better than even some of our own. It would take someone just as brilliant, if not more so, to stop him. So I made a few inquiries, pulled some strings, and here you are. The one and only, Commander of the famed 212th Battalion himself, in my office alive and well.” Thrawn smirked. “Now, that is better than some dusty helmet on the wall, don’t you think?” 

Cody didn’t answer. He was at a total loss for words. Thrawn got under his skin, made him more afraid than he had ever been before. He wasn’t sure if the Chiss wanted to string him up and display him next to Gree, or wanted him solely for his strategic brain and whatever advantage it could provide. 

A part of him whispered that it was both. 

“You know a lot about clones, _sir_.”

Cody whipped his head to the side and stared at Threepwood. It was the first time he had spoken since entering Thrawn’s office. The ice in his blood did little to stop the sweat that appeared on his brow. Perhaps any other natural-born officer wouldn’t have picked up on the subtle animosity within Threep’s voice, but the Grand Admiral was no ordinary, brainless Imperial officer. 

“Indeed,” Thrawn hummed. He smiled, something Cody never wanted to see again for as long as he lived. “But I know nothing of you, soldier.”

Threepwood puffed out his chest, and for a moment, he looked just like the little fiery cadet he had once been. “My name is Threepwood, sir.” A pause, and Threep clenched his jaw. “ _CT-9571_ , if you’d prefer, sir.”

Cody could have throttled him. Maybe he would, if they made it out of Thrawn’s office alive. On his shoulder, Eve whined. Perhaps she too could sense their impending doom. He hoped the Grand Admiral would at least spare his droid. 

The Grand Admiral threw back his head and laughed. It was, somehow, even worse than his smile. Cody wished he had one of those quick acting suicide capsules Republic Intelligence used to hand out to their agents for emergencies. 

“I must say,” Thrawn drawled, “you two are perfect for what I have planned.”

Cody spoke up before Threepwood could. “A plan, sir?”

“To capture CT-7567 - ” the Admiral flicked his eyes to Threepwood. “Forgive me, to capture _Captain Rex_ , of course.” Thrawn waved his hand and Cody’s identification file fizzled away. The holo of Rex’s file enlarged, and various records began to trickle out. “Tell me, Commander, how well did you know him?”

“Captain Rex and I worked together on many assignments, sir. I know his playbook and his strategy as if it were my own.” Cody paused, shifting from foot to foot. “We were quite close, sir.” 

“I believe that our dear old Captain would prove to be an immense asset to the Empire, however - ” Thrawn sighed, and began to pace the length of his desk. “I worry his time with the Rebels will have poisoned his mind. That he will be reluctant to join our cause.” A pause, and the Grand Admiral came to a stop before Cody. “But what say you, Commander? Can our friend be convinced of the error of his ways?”

“ _Yes_ ,” Cody said, leaning forward. His heart sped up, like a wild nexu on the cusp of sinking its claws into its prey. The quieter part of his subconscious from earlier, the one that had frantically tried to find any reason to justify _not_ killing Rex, rejoiced. This was his chance. Thrawn was offering him an out, a way he could save Rex and still be a good soldier. “Sir, I’m certain that Rex will listen to me if given the chance.” 

Thrawn smiled. Cody shivered. The room grew colder. 

“Good.”

With one word, Cody was suddenly sure he had made a terrible mistake.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi :) was that awful? Please tell me it wasn't too terrible. I'm very interested to hear your thoughts. Next chapter will feature Cody having a not so great time, Eve being nosy, and Threepwood harnessing the power of Little Brother Energy. See ya'll then~!


	3. Hard Truths

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, thank you to my dear friend epsiloneridani for all her help.

* * *

The journey from Thrawn’s office to their newly assigned living quarters had been a silent one. Threepwood had splintered off at some point, muttering something about wanting to stop by the commissary. He hadn’t offered for Cody to join, and Cody hadn’t asked. 

That was over two hours ago. Not that Cody minded. The silence was - 

_Who is Rex?_

\- unceremoniously interrupted by a series of beeps from across the room. 

Cody sighed. “You’re supposed to be rebooting,” he replied pointedly.

Eve chirped mischievously. Cody didn’t bother to look up from the holophoto in his hand; he knew that Eve was probably already trying to creep away from her charging station. As sneaky as the little seeker droid thought she was, Cody could map her path across the room without so much as a glance. 

Feigning indifference, Cody listened as Eve slid from the desk against the opposite wall and plopped onto the ground. Her tiny, durasteel legs padded across the floor as she quickly scampered behind the footlocker at the end of his bunk. He only had to count to three before she made a sudden break for the nearest leg of his bunk. He smiled, despite his sour mood, and Eve scampered up the rail like a kowakian monkey-lizard before landing with a soft _thunk_ beside him. 

Cody huffed. Eve released a handful of triumphant whistles and rewarded herself by pouncing onto his shoulder. In all reality, Cody had no one to blame but himself; he was the one that had decided using a BD unit as her foundation was a good idea. 

They were called _Buddy Droids_ for a reason. 

Eve nuzzled his neck and fluttered around to get a better look at the photo in his lap. _Who is that?_ she inquired with a slow, gentle blink of her eye.

“That one is Fives,” Cody said, holding the frame up with one hand and pointing with the other. “And that’s Echo.”

Eve trilled, one of her front most appendages reaching out to eagerly tap against another figure within the photo. _Who is that?_ she repeated. 

Cody sighed. “That’s me.” 

His regret was swift and immediate as Eve began to laugh. The droid chirped and warbled as she bounced from one shoulder to the other; the white rim of her eye constricted to a tiny dot within the center of her orbital socket. 

“Very funny.” Cody rolled his eyes, but there was no bitterness behind it. He had never enjoyed being laughed at, but for some reason found it endearing when Eve did so. 

Perhaps the Cody of ten years ago would have thought such a profound friendship with a droid to be absurd, but the Cody of the present day was grateful for whatever companionship he could find- even if it came in the form of a bite-sized droid with too much loyalty and too little self-preservation. 

It wasn’t like he had many options. Clones were incredibly social by nature, having been engineered from birth to depend on their brothers through the formation of close knit bonds. But he hadn’t seen another clone besides Threepwood in years, and none of the natural born troopers wanted anything to do with an old relic like him. 

More often than not, Cody wondered why Threepwood even bothered to put up with him. 

The gears inside Eve’s legs whirled as she tapped at his cheek once, twice, three times before Cody finally blinked. His brain fought to play catch up, having grown sluggish from his darker inner musings, as Eve pointed at the final figure within the photo. 

_Who is that?_

“Rex,” Cody said softly. “That’s Rex.” 

_Who is Rex?_

There it was again. That question Cody had no clue how to answer. Never mind to a droid; he had no idea how to explain it to himself. Did he answer with what Rex once was? A brother, a friend, someone Cody would have laid down his life for without a second thought? 

Or did he answer with what Rex was now? How did he explain to Eve that Rex had been the subject of nightmares that had plagued him ever since the 332nd Company had been declared KIA? Was it even possible to explain that Rex had haunted him for over a decade, a shadow that lingered in the back of his mind and only emerged when Cody felt he had finally conquered his grief? 

There was another answer he could give the droid, one that he still couldn’t wrap his head around; Rex was a traitor. 

Cody gripped the edges of the holophoto so tight that the frame began to creak. Eve beeped in alarm. It was only when she began to pry at his hands that he came back to himself, the room spinning and his jaw aching from how firmly he had clenched it. 

“ _Sorry_ ,” Cody gasped, tossing the photo away as if it had burned him. It clattered against the floor and skidded beneath his desk. Cody scrambled further back on the mattress until his back met the wall. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to - ”

_Okay? Cody okay? Eve will call Threepwood -_

“ _No_ ,” Cody barked. Eve locked up, the sudden stillness beside him making him flinch. Cody exhaled, counting backwards from ten in his head and extending his hands as he opened and closed his fists. “No,” he tried again, softer this time. He cleared his throat. “That’s all right Eve, I’m fine.”

_Promise?_

He nodded, still running through whatever vague breathing exercise he could remember from his training on Kamino. “Promise.” 

Cody closed his eyes and let his head fall back against the wall. He counted all the way up to one-hundred, and then did it three more times before he felt his heart start to slow. He felt defective, having to rely so heavily on a technique that was taught to cadets after their first live-fire simulation inevitably went wrong. He hadn’t needed it back in the war, not even when he found himself pinned beneath a gunship on Anaxes. 

Anaxes. Rex. His chest constricted. Cody drew a shuddery breath and, reluctantly, began to count again. 

* * *

Cody hadn’t realized he had fallen asleep until the door hissing open made him jump. Threepwood paused, a ration bar in each hand, and titled his helmet to the side.

“Are you, uh - ” 

“I’m fine.” Cody waved the other trooper off and rubbed at his stiff neck. 

“Well, if you say so.” Threepwood shrugged. 

Eve, sensing an opportunity, scurried away from where she had curled up beside Cody and charged at Threep. He yelped, swatting at the droid as she clambered up his armored legs. 

“What the _hell_ is this - ” 

Before he could do more than just protest, Eve snatched one of the ration bars from Threep’s hand and retreated back to Cody. Like a loyal Massiff fetching a hover ball, Eve dutifully dropped the stolen bar on his lap. He smirked, and Threepwood glared.

“That droid,” Threep began, leaning against the frame of their bunk and brandishing his remaining ration bar like a blade, “That droid isn’t right.” 

Cody refused to dignify such an accusation with a response. He had built EV-3 himself, and he knew she was perfect. Instead, he unwrapped the ration bar Eve had claimed for him and began to pick at it. 

Threepwood groaned, and tossed his empty wrapper at Cody. “You’re impossible.” 

Threep stormed off to the attached refresher. Eve beeped lowly, rounding on the wrapper as if it were a piece of prey. Clutching the offending item in her frontmost appendages, the droid quickly deposited it on the top bunk for Threepwood to later collect. 

Cody patted the top of her head when she returned. “ _Attagirl_ , we’ll show him yet.” He scoffed, leaning forward to launch his own wrapper onto Threep’s bed. “Not right,” he muttered, settling back against the wall. Eve climbed onto his lap and he patted her head again. “Only thing not right is him. ‘S why they stuck him with me back on the garrison. Someone had to keep an eye on him.” 

“Stars above,” Threepwood cursed from the ‘fresher. He popped his head out, having dressed down to the dark body glove beneath his armor. “Will you please stop talking to the damn droid?”

“I either talk to the droid or I have to talk to you,” Cody shot back. 

Threepwood narrowed his eyes. “Are you saying you’d rather chat with the droid than with me?”

“Absolutely.”

The look of disbelief and utter disappointment on Threep’s face almost made him laugh. 

“That’s cold, Commander. Stone cold.” Threepwood’s face retreated back within the refresher, but his voice echoed back out. “I don’t remember you always being so ornery, sir. Maybe my memory has gone a bit wonky, but I could have sworn you were pleasant once upon a time.” 

Threep’s use of _Commander_ and _sir_ , despite them being off duty, and the impish tone of his voice told Cody that his remark was meant in jest. This was the part Cody was supposed to grumble back something about how Threepwood had always been annoying, and Cody had never been pleasant. 

But that wasn’t true. 

Cody stilled, his retort stuck in his throat. Threepwood was right. He hadn’t always been so difficult to be around. And it hadn’t always been so unpleasant inside his own head. Back then, when the only other soldiers were clones like him, Cody hadn’t been known as a bitter, fractious Commander that would snap at the smallest of slights.

“Hey,” Threep was back beside him, nudging his shoulder. Cody wasn’t sure when he had got there. “I was just kidding, you know that … right?” 

“Right, yeah,” Cody said softly. He rubbed at the back of his neck again, uncomfortable under Threepwood’s concerned gaze. 

“I was kidding about the droid too,” Threepwood said earnestly. 

“I know that, Threep.” His voice may have been sharper than he had intended, as Threepwood held up his hands in surrender. 

“All right, okay, just - ” Threepwood sighed and pressed off the bunk onto his feet. “Just making sure..” He trailed off, suddenly distracted by something. 

Cody dropped his hands from where they had been irritably rubbing at his face. He watched cautiously as Threepwood crossed the room and kneeled to pick something off the ground. It only took a moment for Cody to recognize it, and he groaned, falling back on his bunk. 

He wasn’t in the mood for this conversation. 

“Where did - ”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Cody said. He held out his hand over the side of the bunk. “Just give it here.” When nothing appeared in his hand, and Threepwood failed to move, Cody snapped his head to the side and growled. “ _Threepwood_.” 

The other trooper looked entranced as he took in the holophoto that Cody knew by heart. Cody leaned up on his elbows and emphasized his open hand with an impatient shake.

“Threepwood,” he barked. “Give it to me.” 

“I’ve never seen this before,” Threep murmured. It seemed to take an immense amount of effort for him to tear his eyes away. “Why haven’t you, I mean...are you supposed to still have this?” 

“Are you going to report me, trooper?” Cody challenged. 

Threepwood’s eyes went steely. He tossed the holophoto none too gently, and it bounced off Cody’s chest. “No, I’m not going to report you. Sure as hell like to, maybe then you could get your ass reconditioned and come back how you used to be.”

Cody wasn’t sure who threw the first punch. One moment he was launching himself from his bunk, and the next he and Threepwood were trading blows and knocking against the floor like a pair of feral cadets. He tasted blood in his mouth and something wet on his face, while the bridge of Threep’s nose looked like it had been shifted to the side. 

It was Eve frantically shocking the hell out of them with one of her scomp links that finally drove them apart. Cody heaved and wiped at his face. His palm came back bloody. Eve danced about his feet, whimpering, and he immediately opened his arms for her to leap into.

Eve did no such thing. She cowered away from him, and then turned tail to retreat beneath the bunk. It felt like someone had shot a blaster at his heart.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” Threepwood spat from the opposite side of the room. His arm was wrapped around his ribs, his shoulder pressed against the wall for support. “First you nearly have an aneurysm on Seelos, then you act like you’re about to take that blasted helmet and run in Thrawn’s office - ”

“Don’t - ” Cody hissed, but Threepwood ripped himself from the wall and marched forward. 

“Shut up, _shut up_ , I’m not finished!” Threepwood doubled over and wheezed. Instinctively, Cody reached out to steady him, but Threepwood slapped his hand away with a snarl. “And then, oh but this is the best part, then the Grand Admiral starts teasing some _stupid_ plan about capturing Rex. And I’m thinking ‘oh this isn’t good, Rex is a traitor and all, but the Admiral wants us to bring him in so he can put him on display like a piece of art’. But you - !” 

Threepwood lashed out, shoving Cody back against the wall. “You fell for it! Head over heels, there you went! Thrawn had you like a Hutt has slime and you didn’t even notice!” 

“Notice what?” Cody shouted back. 

“That after we bring the captain back, Thrawn is gonna string _our_ sorry asses up and mount us on that wall right next to Rex!” 

Cody bristled. His blood suddenly ran cold. “What exactly are you suggesting, trooper?”

Threepwood threw his hands up and groaned. “That we get the hell out of here, before we end up as some wall decoration.” 

“That’s treason,” Cody whispered. He lurched forward, gripping onto Threepwood’s shoulders. “Listen to me, you can’t say things like that,” Cody pleaded, shaking Threepwood for emphasis. “It’s not our place to question the Grand Admiral’s intentions, and if someone heard you talk like that - ” 

Cody paused as his throat began to close up. His eyes watered. He brought one shaky hand from Threepwood’s shoulder to rest against his cheek. “They’ll take you away, Threep. They won’t just recondition you, they’ll _decommission_ you. And I - ” Cody shuddered and shook his head. “I’ve lost so many brothers already, Threep, I can’t lose you too.” 

He bowed his head in shame, hiding the bitter tears that burned across his face, and waited for Threepwood to tear into him. But instead of another blow, or a revamp of Threep’s earlier ravings, Cody found himself crushed against the other trooper’s chest. He froze, petrified Threepwood was about to slam him into the ground, but his brother only continued to embrace him. Eventually, Cody’s brain caught up.

This was a hug. Threepwood was hugging him. 

The realization only made him openly weep. He hadn’t hugged someone since he and Gree had said goodbye on Coruscant. Gree had died after that, and if hugging Threepwood meant he would die too - 

“You’re not gonna lose me, Cody. I promise.” Threepwood was just as much of a mess as Cody was, and they made a sorry pair as they clung to each other, battered and bruised. Threep patted his head, and Cody winced. “Sorry.”

“‘S fine,” Cody mumbled, feeling dead on his feet. “Since when do you hit so hard?” Threepwood actually threw back his head and laughed. Cody could only manage a lopsided grin. 

“I dunno, I think you might just be getting old.” 

“Shut up,” Cody groaned. “I’m only two years older than you.” 

“Yeah, but you sure as hell have a lot more grey than me.” 

Reflexively, Cody carded a hand through his hair. It was true, but it didn’t mean he liked it. “Shut up,” he said again, but nodded in the direction of the ‘fresher. “Go get cleaned up, yeah?” 

Threepwood nodded and limped ahead. The moment the hydraulic door hissed closed, Eve waddled out from her hiding spot. Cody kneeled, and something twisted in his chest when the droid hurried to him but paused just outside of his reach.

“I’m sorry for scaring you,” he said gently. “Guess we got carried away. Brothers fight sometimes, ya know?”

Eve pointed an accusatory pincer at his face. _Okay?_

“Yeah, I’m okay. Just a little bruised.” 

_Threepwood beat you up?_

Cody scoffed. “No, Threepwood did _not_ beat me up, thank you very much.”

There was a small hum as Eve’s internal processor mulled it over. Finally, she chirped, and shuffled closer. _Eve saw. Threepwood beat you up._

“Okay, _fine_ . He beat me up. He got me real good, see?” Cody put forth his best grimace and clutched his side. “ _Ouch_ \- that really hurts.” When Eve still wasn’t convinced, he let himself teeter over to the side with a mock yelp.

His bluff paid off, and Eve flew forward. She crowded around his head, beeping unhappily as she poked and prodded at his face. The droid continued to scold him as she fetched a series of bacta patches from his locker. She made the perfect reluctant medic, and her fretting reminded him of- 

Cody closed his eyes. Dwelling on his brothers wouldn’t do him any good. His brothers were all but gone. And, he thought darkly, even if they were around, they probably wouldn’t want anything to do with him. 

Distantly, he hoped at least Rex would be happy to see him.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bit of a shorter chapter this time, sorry! I hope it wasn't too boring. The pace will definitely start to pick up next chapter, as we dive headfirst into the main plot and really get the ball rolling. Please feel free to share your thoughts, questions, or suggestions below! I'm particularly interested in hearing what you think about Threepwood and Eve~ Thank you so much for reading!


End file.
